The Only Way is Up - Bayer hosts 3-day global high wire event in the USA

Innovating the cucumber business

Baton Rouge/New Orleans, USA.

High tech vegetable production and marketing companies are facing critical changes in the market. The chain is becoming shorter, consumers are getting more decision power and producers are becoming less anonymous. In a nutshell: being innovative is crucial for today’s success.

Louis Foreman, an expert in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, started off the symposium by encouraging the participants on being innovative.

“Having a great idea whether it’s market, product or technology driven sounds brilliant, but you need to bring it to work, be fast and differentiate when you want to catch business opportunities. Knowing that is a big challenge Bayer organized a 3 day event where ‘innovation’ was put into spotlight ”. Anne Jancic, Marketing Specialist and Innovation Coach at Bayer, Vegetable Seeds

High wire growers from Europe and North America came to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and enjoyed an inspirational program on October 18th to 20th, 2017.

Diving into details and exploring innovative approaches during the workshops.

Starting up with a symposium on the first day they got encouraged to innovate by the keynote speakers Louis Foreman, CEO of Enventys, Edison Nation and Edison Nation Medical and Michael Agostini who talked about the food market in the US from the perspective of Walmart. The afternoon workshops were related to specific topics such as Setting your business into the spotlight, Inventive thinking, Automation and LED lighting where the participants could dive into details. In smaller work groups, they for instance, came to new market approaches one of which will hopefully turn into practice soon.

“All the speakers were great. I could’ve done another entire day of listening to speakers about robotics, the future of labor and entrepreneurs outside of our industry like Louis.” Mason Duarte, Grower at Windset Farms.

At Avery Island the growers learned in a private tour of the factory and greenhouse how the famous TABASCO hot-pepper sauce is made and got introduced to southern-style cooking.

The day after the symposium Bayer organized an Experience Day with a visit to Avery Island, where the famous TABASCO® sauce in made. In a private tour of the factory and greenhouse the growers learned how the famous hot-pepper sauce is made and got introduced to making Southern-style sauces, seafood and Tabasco ice cream.

Friday 20 October was dedicated to visiting the PMA Fresh Summit where Bayer also hosted a booth. Year after year, more than 19,000 attendees and over 1,000 exhibitors from 60 countries come together for three days of networking at the largest trade conference and exposition in the Western Hemisphere for the fresh produce industry.

“I was personally inspired by the great speakers at the event and their experience and ideas in so many different subjects which can be useful in horticulture in the future to keep the business successful. The program was arranged nicely with the combination of a seminar, visit to Avery Island to get spicy Tabasco cooking and history and then finally PMA Fresh Expo in New Orleans. This was great package!” Auvo Toivola, Helle Oy, Finland.

Bayer: Science For A Better Life
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2016, the Group employed around 115,200 people and had sales of EUR 46.8 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.7 billion. These figures include those for the high-tech polymers business, which was floated on the stock market as an independent company named Covestro on October 6, 2015. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.